When news of a Planet of the Apes prequel franchise was first announced, plenty of people were skeptical, especially those who loved the classic film franchise that began in 1968 and spawned four sequels, a live-action TV series and an animated TV series. The 2001 remake directed by Tim Burton had already soured audiences all over the world. But 10 years later, we were all pleasantly surprised by Rise of the Planet of the Apes from director Rupert Wyatt, and even more enamored and impressed by the sequel, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, from filmmaker Matt Reeves in 2014.

Now, Reeves has returned behind the camera for War for the Planet of the Apes, a film that is not only one of the most significant blockbusters of the decade, but the concluding chapter in what will be regarded as one of the all-time greatest film trilogies. Read More »

Just when you thought Avengers: Infinity War didn’t have any more room for cool actors, Terry Notary has to come out and say that he has a role in it. You probably don’t know his face, but you’ve seen his work before. As a stunt coordinator, movement coach, and motion capture performer, he has lent his talents to some of the biggest genre movies of the past decade. Now, he’s joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as one of Thanos’ top henchmen.

While on the set of War for the Planet of the Apes, we chatted with Andy Serkis and Terry Notary, who play the performance capture Ape lead characters Caesar and Rocket. We learn about the set-up of this third Apes film, how the Apes have evolved through the series leading to this new confrontation, the struggle to get the Academy to recognize motion capture performances, the introduction of Steve Zahn as a Chimpanzee, the difference in the approach of acting for live-action vs. performance capture, and much more. Hit the jump to read our Terry Notary and Andy Serkis War For The Planet of the Apes interview.

Pretty much the moment Toby Kebbell was cast in Kong: Skull Island, speculation began about whether he’d be playing King Kong. After all, Kebbell’s resume includes several high-profile mo-cap roles, including the ape Koba in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and the orc Durotan in Warcraft; he seemed like a natural fit to play Kong via the magic of motion capture. But earlier this year, Kebbell clarified that while he’d helped out with the role, Terry Notary was the one ultimately playing King Kong.

And that was that, or so we thought until now. In a more recent interview, Kebbell dropped some cryptic comments that suggest he may have been more involved with the King Kong role than previously believed. Read More »

Last month, 20th Century Fox screened five scenes from Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. While I was very impressed with the footage, I was blown away by the performance capture I saw in the 20 minutes previewed — it was the best performance capture performances I had seen to date.

On top of that, Andy Serkis was on hand to introduce a brief video showcasing the live-action human actors filming the performance capture for the Ape roles side by side split screen with the computer animated finished footage of the Apes. I cant tell you how impressive this brief clip was on the big screen — it brought me back to the days of movie magic specials from my childhood.

20th Century Fox has now released the clip online for all of you to see. Watch the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Performance Capture comparison clip embedded after the jump.

On June 3rd 2013, I flew to New Orleans, LA to visit the set of Fox’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes follow-up Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. There, I learned a great deal about the Matt Reeves-directed sequel. After the jump, read about my Dawn of the Planet of the Apes set visit and discover the secrets behind the next chapter in the Planet of the Apes series.